MEDIA NOTES

RATINGS: ABC's telecast of Michigan-Ohio State on
Saturday earned a 8.7 overnight rating, while CBS earned a
6.2 overnight for its FL-Florida State game (N.Y. TIMES,
11/25)....Thursday night's Martina Hingis-Mary Pierce match
on MSG Network drew a 1.1 rating, the highest ever for a
tennis match on MSG. The final minutes of the match, from
9:30-9:45pm ET, drew a 3.6. The Knicks-Hawks drew a 1.1 on
MSG's other cable service at the same time (THE DAILY).
CABLE: In Hartford, Bruce Berlet writes to look for
"quicker" ABL games "per request of Fox Sports Net," which
has "been running over its two-hour window" during its ABL
telecasts. Halftime has been reduced from 15 to 12 minutes,
and all non-TV timeouts have been reduced to 60 seconds
(HARTFORD COURANT, 11/25)....ESPN Exec Editor John Walsh, on
the challenges facing its news division since being acquired
by Walt Disney: "[W]e've been watchful and everybody's
watchful in the news area to make sure we have the
independence to cover things. ... Other people have this
issue. CNN has to cover the [Braves] and pretty soon Fox is
going to have to cover the [Dodgers], so it's not just
Disney" (Baltimore SUN, 11/25)....Julie Foudy is featured in
a Lifetime TV vignette this week, part of its "Breaking
Through" series. The spot focuses on Foudy's recent trip to
a Pakistani soccer ball factory (Stars & Strategies).